Dulce de Leche con Piloncillo del Bajío

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12 to 14 inch copper cazo, clean and dedicated to milk sweets
• •Long wooden cuchara or pala
• •Small ceramic plate for testing the punto
• •Candy thermometer, optional but useful
• •Fine-mesh strainer

Instructions

1. 1

   Ready the cazo

   Use a clean copper cazo if you have one, the kind used for milk sweets and sugar work in the Bajío. If the copper has any green spots, do not use it. Use a wide heavy stainless pot instead. Put a small ceramic plate in the freezer now so you can test the punto later.

2. 2

   Warm the milk

   Pour the leche de vaca into the cazo. Add the canela and salt. Warm over medium heat until tiny bubbles gather at the edge and the milk smells sweet and clean. Do not boil hard. Milk that boils like soup climbs, scorches, and makes you scrub the stove. Ask any señora at the Mercado Hidalgo de Guanajuato.

3. 3

   Dissolve the piloncillo

   Add the chopped piloncillo by handfuls, stirring with a long wooden cuchara until it dissolves completely. Piloncillo is not brown sugar. It tastes of cane, minerals, and the trapiche. If you see grit or cane fiber in the milk, strain the mixture into a clean cazo and continue. That is market cooking, not a defect.

4. 4

   Add the bicarbonato

   Stir the dissolved bicarbonato into the milk. The mixture will rise and foam, so keep your spoon moving and do not panic. The bicarbonato protects the milk from curdling and helps the dulce take on that deep Bajío color. This is one of the quiet tricks of the dulceros.

5. 5

   Reduce slowly

   Lower the heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered, stirring every few minutes at first and more often as it thickens. Scrape the bottom and the sides of the cazo each time. The color will move from café con leche to chestnut, and the bubbles will get slower and heavier. No me vengas con atajos. Condensed milk will not give you this flavor.

   Once the dulce starts to thicken, do not leave it alone. The bottom can catch in one minute, and scorched milk tastes scorched all the way through.
6. 6

   Find the punto

   After about two hours, remove the canela. Drag the spoon across the bottom of the cazo. When the path stays open for two seconds before the dulce closes back in, start testing. Drop a little onto the frozen plate. It should hold a soft mound and wrinkle when pushed with your finger. A thermometer should read about 222F for spoonable dulce or 224F to 225F for the thicker mercado style that pulls from the cazo.

7. 7

   Jar and serve

   Pull the cazo from the heat. Let the bubbling settle for five minutes, then pour the dulce into clean glass jars or clay tazones. Do not scrape in any scorched bits if the bottom caught. It will thicken as it cools. Serve with toasted bolillo, a spoon, and queso fresco de rancho if you have it. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Use piloncillo oscuro, not brown sugar. If you cannot find Mexican piloncillo, use panela from a Latin market as a compromise. Brown sugar is refined sugar wearing a little molasses. It will not taste the same.
• •Whole leche de vaca is the point here. If you use goat milk, you are moving toward cajeta de Celaya, which is another discipline. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and every milk has its own behavior.
• •A copper cazo conducts heat evenly and gives you a wider surface for reduction. It must be clean and dedicated to sugar or milk work. Green copper is poison, so inspect it before you cook.
• •The last 20 minutes decide the texture. Stop early and you have sauce. Go too far and it turns grainy when cold. Watch the spoon path and the cold plate. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the dulce up to one week ahead. Keep it refrigerated in clean glass jars.
• •This home version is not shelf-stable. Dulceros have controlled processes for that. You have a refrigerator. Use it.
• •To loosen thick dulce, warm it gently with a spoonful of milk. To thicken loose dulce, return it to a low flame and stir until the spoon leaves a path again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 110g)